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COLBY - Entering his 25th year as the head coach for Colby, Jeff Rosemeyer has seen the Hornets through the ups and downs of it all.

Leading the Hornets to three state championships in 1998, 2008 and 2011, the pressure is now weighing on his shoulders as to when they will visit Camp Randall again, and bring home another trophy.

With his entire coaching staff returning, he credits his longtime assistants, saying a consistent coaching staff is a “big deal” when it comes to being successful.

Since Colby's most recent title win in 2011, it seems that the wins have dwindled each year, but with 14 seniors and underclassmen with varsity experience returning, this could be the season to turn it all around.

“Some of our strength this year will be that we return quite a few of our skills positions,” Rosemeyer said. “Our leading receiver is back, our quarterback is back and our second-leading rusher is back. So, we got some things to build on.”

One worry for Rosemeyer is their experience on the offensive and defensive line.

“We’re going to have to kind of mature as the season goes along and kind of gel a bit there.”

While the veteran coach said he believes the entire senior class should be responsible for leading the team, there are a few players who stick out as kids he wants to see step up and be the role models.

“Our quarterback is a senior, Trevor Stuttgen, and I think you just generally, especially offensively, you look for your quarterback to provide the most leadership and he’s done a good job of that," he said.

Another senior, middle linebacker Dylan Leffel, will be looked at to lead on the defensive side.

“A lot of the communication has to go through him, so those two guys (Stuttgen and Leffel) will probably be pretty good leaders,” Rosemeyer said. “Aaron Morrow, he’s an offensive end, he’s also a very good leader by example, very hardworking kid.”

Usually, the Hornets organization waits until week two to set goals for their players, but one thing that’s guaranteed to be on the list is making the playoffs in hopes of a deep postseason run.

As Rosemeyer knows from his wealth of experience, the Cloverbelt Conference is historically tough and that’ll be no different this season.

“There are three teams that are going to return the best and most experienced players and those are Stanley-Boyd, Spencer/Columbus Catholic and Eau Claire Regis,” Rosemeyer said.

“If we can compete with those teams, that will be really good for those guys that we have this year. I don’t know if we can finish on top of the league this year but you hope to be competitive with those teams.”